Like an Angel (In my Darkest Days)
by nabrumaleve
Summary: After a marriage where her happiest time was when she finally got divorced, having to take care of her child all by herself and with no money, Carol was on the verge of breaking. Until she met Daryl Dixon. Or her angel in disguise. Caryl AU, one shot.


Based on a prompt from otpprompts, I wrote a Caryl thing =D

English is not my first language. Sorry for mistakes!

* * *

Carol looked at the clock above the stove, calculating the time until the chicken would be ready, before heading out to the living room, where Sophia was siting in the couch. Her little hands played at the blue guitar she had in her hands, and she singed along the TV.

\- I think someone is ready to play on Dale's dinner – Carol said, siting beside her and tucking a lock of her hair behind her daughter's ear. Sophia rolled her eyes, but her pink cheeks flushed with pride. - I will give him the idea on Monday.

-Mamma! - She flushed more, and Carol grinned at her. - Stop. Besides, I still need to learn a lot. Oh! Do you think Daryl would teach me tonight? Do you? - Her face light up at the perspective.

-Sophia, tonight he is here to dinner with us, remember? You can ask him to teach you another time. He will probably be tired from working on the shop. So, be nice – She pouted, but nod with her head – Witch reminds me… Did you thank him? Sophia looked at her with wide eyes, before ducking her head and biting on her thumb nail, embarrassed.

\- I think I forgot – Carol made a face to her – I'm sorry mamma. I was so happy. It was the same guitar we saw the other day on the store, do you remember? But I'll thank him tonight, I swear.

Carol sighed, tucking the hair behind her daughter's ear again, and gently cupped her chick – Ok, sweetie. But you need to remember these things. Daryl was really nice for buying you this. Sophia turned her face to Carol's hand, holding it and kissing her palm, before grinned back to her – I promise I won't forget. - She released her mother's hand and came back to play with the guitar.

Carol smiled watching her. The guitar was a little too big for her hands, but the happiness that she saw in her daughter's eyes when Daryl came by the on Wednesday night and handled her the present was something that was imprinted in her mind. He was an angel, that was for sure.

* * *

When Carol came back to her hometown and moved on to the building, after a failed marriage where her happiest time was when the divorce came out, she was in the verge of been crazy. Sophia was only 4 year's old at the time, and having to work on a bookstore 3 times a week and a night shift job on Dale's dinner to pay the rent, she had to bring Sophia to the Dinner every night. Dale and her wife Irma were kind enough to let Sophia there, especially because they knew Carol since she was a kid. They took responsibility for her after her father passed away, in the first year of her relationship with Ed (when he still pretended to be a decent human being) and were aware of everything she went through in her marriage, despise Ed's attempts of push her away from them.

The day Daryl Dixon entered the dinner with his 5 years old niece, Sam, the kid and Sophia get along at first sight. Carol remembered him from school, or to be honest, from him not going to school and being the subject of talk every single day on the lunch time. Daryl and his brother, Merle, were feared by everyone, because of their short temper. But for some reason she couldn't explain, she never saw him with those eyes. He was aggressive, of course, and seemed to have no patience for friendships, but something about him made her think that his hard exterior was maybe just a cover. It was a surprise when Irma told her how bad was Merle and Daryl relationship with his father, and how they suffered through the years after their mother died and they had to be under the care of him. Carol now could see what she was too young and innocent to understand at the time. She discovered that, after their father passed away, the Dixon brothers managed to grown up and build a decent life, and Merle even got married. His son was really attached to Daryl, spending at least once a week in his uncle's house. It was clear to Carol that Dale and Irma liked Daryl and Sam a lot, and that made her trusted him easily.

In one of his went to the dinner (he was always there when Sam was with him, on Friday night), she got the courage to talk to him, wanting to be polite with the uncle of the kid that Sophia had such a close friendship. She was surprised one more time of how shy he was, almost like he wasn't used to people talking with him. She thought he was a charm.

Truth was, she started to care about him. After some embarrassment of his part the first times she went to talk to him – like the time he let let the fork fall on the table a little to hard, saying a loud " _shit"_ and Sophia started giggle at the table, repeating it. Carol was sure his face went 10 shades of red – they developed a truly friendship. She learned how he had just owned a mechanic shop, after working on it as an employee for 5 years, and he was trying to find a better place to live ( _"Kid needs a better place to stay the weekends, not that shitty… Dammit. Sophia, don't. Didn't said nothing."_ ). She told him how she wanted to work on a hospital, how she didn't got the chance to pursuit her career after college, because of her marriage. He never asked what happened between her and Ed, but she has the feeling that he understood. He started to went to Dale's dinner every Friday, Sam with him or not. ( _"Pretty romantic, you coming just to see me" "Stop.")_

A year after they first met, the apartment above hers went for rent, and he got it. They got home almost the same time – her coming from the bookstore, him from his shop – and they always went walking together to get Sophia from school, witch was just a block from their building. He would drive them to Dale's dinner, and most of the times, he would linger that a little bit. ( _"Music is good. 'Sides, your hamburger is fucking good, a lot better than mine." "Your hamburger is fucking good, Mamma"!)_

It was their routine, and she honestly couldn't imagine her life without him. Especially after the day Sophia's teacher called Carol while she still was in the bookstore, telling her how Sophia was feeling bad since lunch time. Carol talked to her boss, asking to leave earlier, and run straight back to school. Her heart break when she saw her baby. In the end, it was just a flu, but Sophia was miserable. Carol took her home and spent the rest of the evening in Sophia's bed. She sent a message do Daryl, telling him she was already home, and it wasn't much later when he stopped by, concern written all over his face. They spent some time talking, him telling her about his day at the shop, her explaining to him how she was thinking that maybe next year she would finally started her college degree, but when she went to call Dale and tell him how she wouldn't be able to be at the dinner tonight, he stopped her by putting his hand on her arm. _"I can take care of her, if you wanna_.". She stared at him, in silence for a moment. A shade of red started to creep in his cheeks, and he ducked his head, biting on his thumb nail. _"I mean, it's your call. Just wanna help. Know how you want to save money for college and shit. But you don't gotta trust me just because you know m…"_

 _"I trust you, it's not that_ " she said quickly, interrupting him before he thought that she didn't. Because she did. She just never thought he would do something like that for her. Ed never bothered in help her with anything when it came to Sophia. _"It's just that… I didn't know I could ask you that"._

He looked at her for a moment, and then gave her a little side smile he did sometimes that, for some reason she couldn't figure it out, made her heart skip a bit. " _You can ask me anything"_ He said, before dropping his gaze and fidget with something in his pants.

And just like that, their routine changed. After that day, Sophia asked to stay with Daryl when she didn't want to go to the dinner, and while she felt bad for leaving him with so many responsibilities (especially when he had to look out for Sam when the kid was with him), she couldn't deny the fact that her heart warmed every time she saw her child and him entering the dinner's door. (He still managed to convince Sophia in going there at least an hour or so, just to talk to her while she worked. He didn't even tried to make up an excuse for his reason to be there).

* * *

Carol look at Daryl and Sophia, while the little girl chatted about her day at school and Daryl mumbled an agreement of how unfair the blue color always were "for boys" and that didn't make sense at all. Suddenly she stopped talking and looked at him up and down. Then she grinned and look at her mother

\- Mamma, Daryl is wearing the shirt you gave him - She pointed, really enthusiastic. Carol could see the red in his cheeks, but he managed to smile and say to her

-I liked the shirt. - He looked at Carol then - You have a good taste with these stuffs

\- Thanks - Carol smiled back at him. He looked great in that white shirt. - But Sophia helped me to pick this one -He stared at Sophia then and she nodded with her head, before speaking again

\- That's true. But just because Mamma knows the kind of things you like. Because she likes you. - She said simply, like it was the most natural thing to say in the world, and came back her attention to her potatoes.

Carol look at Sophia in shock, while Daryl choked with his coke, before cleaning his throat and stare at the little girl. He looked at Carol then, and she knew her cheeks were pink. But she managed to laugh a little. - Of course I do. You know how much I appreciate everything you do for us Daryl - Carol said, and that wasn't a lie. She was grateful for having him in her life.

She thought have seen something sad passing his eyes briefly, before he nodded at her and smile. It didn't reach his eyes. But before she could think about it, Sophia was speaking again, and this time, it was Carol's turn to choke with her glass of water.

\- Ah, but not like that. I mean, she really likes you. Just like Anna likes Kristoff. Have you ever seen Frozen? Oh, Daryl, you need to watch it. Is amazing. If you can, we can watch after dinner. Mamma loves that movie too, we can watch it together. What do you think Mama? - She looked at her mother expectantly.

Carol didn't know what to say, so she just nodded. She couldn't look at Daryl right now, so she resume to eat, hoping to brush it off later, when they were both alone. She needed to have a conversation with Sophia later. But right now, it was better to drop the subject before she became more embarrassed. She wasn't in her luck day though. Because Sophia didn't seem ready to let it go.

\- You know, it's like Hans is my father, and you are Kristoff. First Mamma thought that Hans was a prince, but he wasn't. She then met Kristoff, and he was the real prince. Not Hans. - Daryl looked at Carol then, and she knew he could see the tears that filled her eyes and the pink in her face. She knew Sophia thought about Daryl as the father figure she never had. But seeing her baby girl saying the words out loud like that it was hard.

\- You know what Soph? Your Mamma doesn't see me like that, but that's ok. She'll find her "Kristoff". - He cleaned his throat, before continue. - 'Sides, Don't wanna say bad things 'bout Hans before watching it. Need to see it with my own eyes. - Sophia looked at him for a moment, before shaking her head and sighed.

\- You're just like Kristoff. You can't see what's in front of you. Mamma talks about you all the time. Of course she likes you. Besides, Hans is a dumbass, you'll see it.

\- Sophia! - Carol said loudly, getting the girl's attention, and avoiding looking at Daryl. - This is not a nice thing to say. And you two, stop all this talk about me like I'm not in the room, yeah? - She looked at Daryl then, and while his face was still red, he couldn't help smile at her when their eyes met. She smiled back, and then, stared at Sophia again. - Now let's finish eat, so we can get some dessert and then we will watch the movie.

* * *

She came back to the living room after taking Sophia to bed, and drop herself in the couch beside him.

\- Sorry about that. - She said, after a moment of silence. - 'Bout what?" His voice was low, like he didn't want to wake Sophia up. Carol liked his voice. She didn't know if it was because he didn't talk too much, but she loved to hear it. - About you having to watch the movie. I know how painful it was. - She smiled at him. - I swear I thought you were going to sleep in the middle of it.

He snorted, looking at her through a curtain of hair. - I couldn't. She'll make tons of questions next time. - Carol laughed at that, and scooted herself a little closer to him at the couch. - And Hans is a dumbass.

Carol smiled. - Yeah, she was right. The silence felt upon then one more time, but it was different this time. Daryl hold her gaze for a few seconds, before looking down.

\- I was thinkin'. - He stopped and looked at her again, turning his body towards her in the couch, his arm coming to rest behind her head. - Tomorrow Merle will give some kind of party for Sam. Ya know, pizza, movies, tons of kids runnin' around.

\- Yeah, Sophia told me about it. - She could see there was something else he wanted tell her. Her heart started to pound in her chest, but she didn't know why.

\- So, was thinkin'… maybe we could do something. While Soph is there. - His cheeks flushed again, and he looked at his hand on his lap. - Spend some time together, just us, ya know?

Carol couldn't stop looking at him. - I would like that. Very much. - Their gaze locked and Carol leaned on him, getting closer. She could see the little scar above his eyebrow and the way his eyes were dark in that moment. Her hand brushed his hair lightly of his face, and he closed his eyes when she touched his face, leaning in the feel of her hand against his skin.

\- I guess Sophia wasn't right just 'bout Hans, huh? - He said, eyes still closed, his cheeks a little red, but that little side smile on his lips. She smiled at that too, and let her fingers get tangled in his hair, tugging a little. His eyes snapped open, and the hand resting at the couch found its way to her back, dragging her closer to him.

\- She was right about the rest too. - She said, a breath from his lips.

He looked at her eyes before closing his own and closed the gap between them, kissing her hard.

She felt his tongue tracing her lip, and she opened to him, inviting him in. She felt dizzy. His right hand found the way through her hair, while the other explored her back under her shirt, the feel of his calloused hand on her skin making her moan. He captured the sound in his mouth, pressing her against the couch. He bit gently at her bottom lip, before breaking the kiss and resting his forehead against hers. They were breathing hard and when she opened her eyes, he was staring at her in such an awe she felt her heart fluttering. She never felt so wanted before.

\- I was thinking about having a serious conversation with Sophia about what she said early, but now I think I should thank whatever happened in that little head to say those things to you. - Carol said, one hand resting at his neck, the other still tangled in his hair.

He chuckled and came close to her again, his lips hovering just above hers - Thank god she talks too much, just like her Mamma. - He said, before kissing her softly.


End file.
